Instant Pot Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup—creamy broth, chunks of Italian sausage, spinach, carrots and pasta combine to make a hearty soup perfect for a cold winter night.
Get the SLOW COOKER Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup recipe here
Instant Pot Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup
This Instant Pot Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup reminds me of Zuppa Toscana quite a bit. It’s got the Italian sausage, creamy broth and greens. Instead of potatoes it has pasta though. It’s a perfect soup to feed a hungry crowd. Kids and adults both love this soup.
If you’re a kale lover you can swap out the spinach and add in kale instead. And if you don’t have bowtie pasta you can use macaroni, cavatappi or rotini pasta. I like to use Better than Bouillon Chicken Base in the place of chicken broth. I add in 7 cups of water and 7 teaspoons of the chicken base. I buy a big jar of the stuff at Costco because I use it so often in my Instant Pot recipes.
How come it only takes 1 minute? The pressure cooking time for this particular recipe is 1 minute. If you’re unfamiliar with how pressure cooking works you might be scratching your head. How can it cook in just one minute? When the Instant Pot is very full pot (especially when it’s liquid based) the pot will take a long time to come to pressure.
The whole time that the pot is building pressure the food is cooking. In order for the pasta to not get overdone the 1 minute pressure cooking time is used.
This recipe calls for using a controlled release. A controlled release is releasing the steam in controlled bursts. You will switch the valve back and forth between sealing and venting, a few seconds at a time. Releasing the steam like this prevents the liquid from spewing out and making a mess. I like to use this method when there is a very full pot or if the food is starchy.
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes…
Instant Pot Green and White Soup
Instant Pot Italian Wedding Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo Tortellini Soup
Instant Pot Tuscan Tortellini Soup
Instant Pot Parmesan Sausage Kale Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
Receive FREE daily Instant Pot recipes and tips in your email box. Sign up by filling out the gray form below. Other ways to follow: join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group and subscribe to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
Instant Pot Italian Sausage and Spinach Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute (plus time to come to pressure and time to release pressure)
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
Description
Creamy broth, chunks of Italian sausage, spinach, carrots and pasta combine to make a hearty soup perfect for a cold winter night.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 7 cups chicken broth
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into quarter inch rounds
- 10–12 ounces of uncooked bowtie pasta
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk (or half and half or heavy cream)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 oz chopped spinach or kale
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the Italian sausage and break it up. Add in the diced onion. Brown the sausage for about 5 minutes. Spoon off any excess grease. Add in the garlic and saute for 20 seconds. Then add in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any browned bits.
- Turn off the saute setting. Add in the carrots, pasta, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When the time is up perform a controlled release (see note below). Remove the lid.
- Stir in the evaporated milk, parmesan cheese and spinach. Salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve.
Notes
Controlled Release: Release the steam in controlled bursts. Switch the valve back and forth between Sealing and Venting, a few seconds at a time. Releasing the steam like this prevents the liquid from spewing out and making a mess.
Only 1 minute? The pot will take quite a bit of time to build pressure due to the large amount of liquid. The whole time the pot is building pressure the soup is cooking. So yes, you only need 1 minute of pressure cooking time.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Italian
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Thought I would share with you a really easy way to break up ground Italian sausage. While it’s still on the styrofoam plate, use a sharp knife to cut it into several squares. Transfer it to the IP and stir. It will break apart so much easier. There’s no need for a special kitchen tool this way.
I love this idea!
Delish! As a calorie counter, it would really help to know how large a “serving” is. I went with 1 cup as a total guess. Please let us know when you have the chance. Love your recipes! Thanks.
★★★★★
Well, it’s a soup. Being Italian, not sure it’s an Italian Wedding soup though. But I guess nothing is as it was. The new paradigm shift?
This sounds so good! Do you know if the cook time would be affected using gluten free pasta? I also need it to be dairy free. I’ll use evaporated coconut milk and dairy free cheese.
Thank you for this recipe! If I use mini bow tie pasta is the cook time the same? same with If I Sub potatoes?
thank you!
Dawn
Yes I would use the same time for mini bow ties and for cubed potatoes.
Does this soup reheat well?
I am trying to decide if I wait and add the milk and cheese tomorrow when I reheat it for work.
I remember it reheating fine! But you could do it either way.
Made this tonight and it was very tasty! Only problem I had using my 8 quart instant pot, the bowtie pasta was not completely cooked. Just put it back under pressure for another minute and then it was fine. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes!😊
Good girl! You figured it out! I love this one too!
This is one of my favorite soup recipes. I make it exactly as written and it comes out perfect every time. My 2 year old son also loves this soup. Thank you!
★★★★★
You’re so welcome! Thanks for the 5 stars!
*edit* I also ommited the parmesan cheese.
Hi Karen-
I made this recipe the other night and had an ingredient blunder that turned into one of the most fabulous things I’ve ever made. It was so good I wanted to share it with you and the community.
I browned the sausage and onions as instructed, and when it came time to add the garlic, I went to the fridge to get it (I cheat and use the “squeezy bottle” garlic). I also have a bottle of squeezy ginger right next to it. Well, you can probably guess where this is going. Yep, I accidentally added the ginger instead of garlic! I paniced for a second when I realized what happened, but the pot smelled so good I quickly shifted gears and decided to go with it. I added some extra garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil to the pot. I continued with the recipe, omitting the italian seasoning, salt, and cream and then added the spinach at the end as usual. It was ABSOLUTELY delicious. To quote the artist Bob Ross, “There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents”, In his memory, I have dubbed this modified recipe, “Happy Accident Asian Noodle Soup”. Next time I’m going to try udon noodles instead of bow tie pasta. My mouth is already watering!
My husband and I both love your recipes and are huge fans. Thank you for helping to simplify and enhance my life by sharing these amazing recipes!
Kind Regards,
Kerry
Oh wow that does sound so great! I’m glad you had a happy accident!
KAREN…. HAVE YOU EVER PUBLISHED AN INDEX FOR YOUR BOOK “365 DAYS OF PRESSURE COOKING” COOKBOOK?
I LOVE MINE AND USE IT, HOWEVER WHEN EXPLORING, I HAVE TO FLIP ALOT OF PAGES WHEN I WISH TO TRY SOMETHING NEW…
IF YOU DID PUBLISH SOMETHING THAT CORRELATES WITH THE SEPARATE SECTIONS, I WOULD LOVE TO GET MY HANDS ON IT…
PLEASE RESPOND WHEN YOU GET A MIINUTE…. HAH…. YOU ARE ALWAYS BUSY, I AM SURE… SEE BELOW
Yes I do have an index. You can download it here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/order-your-cookbook-now/
Scroll down and it will say: Download the cookbook’s printable table of contents
Hey Karen, what about soup recipes for the vegetarian lovers
Hi Jim,
Here are my meatless soups: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_ingredient=meatless&fwp_meal_type=soups
Please know your directions don’t include when to add the chicken broth but I’m assuming it’s before we put the lid on to pressure cook… LOL – – also, will the kale take the same amount of time if we substitute it for the spinach?
Sorry, I re-read the directions and it does include when to add the broth. But I’m still wondering about the kale… Looking forward to making this.
Yes use the same directions for the spinach.
I think the kale needed a little bit longer to cook but Loved it!! Thank you.
I also put in mushrooms and substituted one carrot for a parsnip. So delicious.
Will he making again.
★★★★★
I’ve made a few of your Instant Pot Recipes, but this is by far my favorite of all. I like to meal prep and got 8 16oz bowls out of this recipe – it’s delicious and full of flavor. I was a bit afraid to try pasta in there, but it cooked perfectly. I’ll probably make it again next week – thanks and keep the IP recipes coming!
★★★★★
Glad to hear it Twanna!
This was delicious. I used heavy whip. Can you freeze the leftovers?
★★★★★
You could try freezing. I do believe the pasta would get mushy though.
I am making this tonight. Quick question – what type of onion? White or sweet yellow? Thanks
Either way is fine but I usually use yellow.
Hi Karen this looks delicious! Question do you think I can double this in a 8qt?
Hi There, Any luck with dairy-free substitutions for this recipe?
I bet you could add in coconut milk or almond milk instead of evaporated milk.
Hi Karen,
They do make a dairy free half and half by silk.
Thanks for all your recipes I got my brother hooked onto your site!
Val
Good to know!! Thank you!!
I can not wait to try this recipe! My family and I love soup. I have never learned to cook it in my pressure cooker/ Instapot. I now know I need to learn how to use my IP, ASAP. W👀W the time it would save me would be worth me spending time to learn more about it!
Thank you So much for opening my 👀 to the lonely IP in my kitchen.
If I sent you a recipe, that I made up for what I call…Italian Chicken Breasts and Noodles, could you try to adapt it to the IP?
Thanks for everything
Arienne
UH-MAZ-ING
★★★★★
Thanks Mike! Glad you liked it 😊
Got this from your “foods you must cook” email and it was dreary enough here to be a soup day. I can see why it was on the list! I had hot sausage instead of mild, not quite enough pasta so I diced up 2 smallish potatoes, and grated some provolone & asiago to replace the parmesan I didn’t have. It was pretty zippy with the hot sausage, but it was YUMMY! It was a cheat meal for my Keto wife, and she went for seconds like I did. I asked her if it was worth cheating for and she gave me a thumbs-up and said it was “very tasty”. Thanks for all you do for us.
★★★★★
How fun! Thanks Nick. I’m so glad you both liked it.
Any ideas on how to make this dairy free? We don’t have an allergy-friendly parmesan to use so I would have to use almond milk but I don’t know how the thickness would be effected without the cheese…
I would just leave out the cheese. It won’t affect it too much!
I didn’t cook sausage fully as it didn’t state cooked just browned but came out good! Is the evaporated milk supposed to thicken soup? No saute at end? It’s good!
★★★
No it’s not a thick soup 🙂 Yep no saute either!
Do you use fresh spinach or frozen??
Thank you!!
I use fresh. Frozen would work though too!
I used fresh and it was delicious! Would frozen make it lose flavor do you think?
★★★★★
nope I think it would be great
Delicious, and in my opinion trumps Zuppa Toscana!!! However, I had to cook a little longer. I normally use a 6 QT IP but have been trying out my new little 3 qt. that I got for our RV travels. After 1 minute and controlled release the pasta was still underdone. Put the lid back on and tried again. As soon as it reached pressure the second time and stated the countdown, I released the pressure (In essence, a, 0 minute cook). This time the pasta was perfectly al dente. In my 6 qt your recipes with pasta have all come out perfect so it must be the slight difference with using a smaller pot. I made a half recipe but that shouldn’t have made any difference. Regardless, we LOVED this soup and it will definitely go in the permanent file!!! I will just note that I need to cook it a little longer if using the 3 qt. Oh, for the record, I used sweet Italian sausage, spinach and half and half.
★★★★★
Glad it all worked out in the end! Yes I bet it had something to do with the 3 quart pot. It would come to pressure quicker and with less liquid it would too.
This was delicious. I added a few sliced mushrooms with the onions. Used evaporated milk, and used the saute button to heat it and to wilt the spinach. Topped each bowl with additional parmesan cheese.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Sharon! I love the idea of adding mushrooms 🙂
Hi Karen,
As a lover of mulligatawny soup, I tried a recipe from another site. It was very good but I ended up with the burn notice. I finished it on the stove. I would love to have your version of this wonderful soup via the IP.
Thanks!
Joyce GalbreTh
Hi Joyce, do you have a “regular” recipe of the soup that I could look at? I like to start with a good recipe and figure out how to make it in the IP.
I will be happy to send it to you! Where would you like it sent?
Hi Joyce email it to me [email protected]
Instead of using regular pasta, could some sort of refrigerated filled tortellini be used? How would that work?
Of all the websites and videos, etc out there with IP recipes, yours has been the only one I’ve actually prepared anything from and it’s all been great. Thank you for your passion for this. You make it interesting for me, which is a difficult task.
★★★★★
Hi Susan, thanks for the nice comment. If it’s uncooked tortellini you could probably add it in at the beginning at use a 1 minute pressure cook time. But if it’s the frozen pre-cooked tortellini I would add it in after the soup has pressure cooked and warm it up with the saute setting.
Absolutely delicious! I used spinach, half and half, and hot Italian sausage. Nocarrots. This recipe is a keeper for sure! A new favorite!
★★★★★
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Lori!
Karen,
Read your recipes everyday. Good site. Question: on the IP Italian sausage and spinach soup, can I omit the pasta (which I will add later) and cook the recipe as stated?
Thanks,
Rich
Yes you can. I would decrease the liquid though because the pasta won’t be absorbing it as it cooks. I would use 5 cups of broth instead of the 7 cups.
Thank you for getting back to me.
Rich
Have you created the recipe for IP Zuppa Toscana? (using the potatoes) I make this all the time. We only like our spinach raw so I always use kale.
Would sure love to try it “Karen’s Way”.
Hi Kim, this is similar to Zuppa…we really love it! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-parmesan-sausage-kale-soup/
Thank you SOOOOO much! Can’t wait to try this. Looks & reads like a winner! I appreciate all your help.
★★★★★
My daughter loves that recipe so much, it’s her favorite. Hope you like it too!